The Beginning
by XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX
Summary: The prequel to Do I Want Friednship or Do I Want your Love?  A young four year old girl is rescued by this mysterious boy who asks her to call him L.  She's taken to the Wammy House and is raised there for three years
1. Prologue

**The Beginning**

**Chapter One: Prologue**

"Nightana! Come here my little princess."

"Daddy!" I ran over to my father and he swooped me up into his arms.

"How's my little girl who's finally turning 2?" I grinned.

"I'm happy daddy! I get to see you!"

"You get to see me everyday though."

"Well, today's special! I get to see you all day!" He laughed and turned to my mother.

"Are you ready to go, honey?" he asked her.

"Yes, I am. Let's go," she smiled. My mother's name was Ann Bella. She was five feet seven inches tall with raven black hair that reached down to the middle of her back in a low ponytail she always wore. She had her bangs parted on her forehead, most of it to the right than the left. Her face had a gentle look to it with warm brown eyes, and a gentle smile. She had natural eyes brows that were perfect with her perfect face.

My father's name was Eric Anderson. My family had inherited his last name. Eric was six feet four inches with dark blue wavy hair. His hair color was unnatural, but him, my mother, and I loved it. His face was always kind and had a smile no matter what, even if I "accidentally" broke something. His eyebrows were light blue and like my mother's.

I was the "weird" one of the family. I had my father's hair and his eyes… most of the time. A lot of the time, my eyes were red. With those eyes, I saw people's names above their heads and some numbers. If I asked the person their name, the same name would always be there and those numbers were always right too. As soon as those numbers hit just one, then that person would die. Always. I hadn't figured out those numbers yet, but I would.

"Yays! We're going to the carnival!" I exclaimed, running forward.

"Nightana, be careful," Ann warned as she caught up with me and she took my hand.

"Don't worry, mommy, I will be."  
"All right," she answered. My father came to my other side and took my hand. Grinning widely, I began my adventure.

#

#

"Come on, Nightana, let's open your presents before you go on another ride."

"Okay, mommy!" I followed them and sat down on the bench with the help of my father. They had two things wrapped up, sitting on the table. "Oh, it's beautiful!" I said as I pulled the long necklace out from its case. The charm was shaped as a heart with a rose wrapped around the words "we love you" (yes, Nightana could read by the age 2). When I opened it up, I found a picture of my mother and father on the right side of the char. "Can I wear it right now?"

"Of course," Eric answered and slipped it over my pigtails. The other gift as a monkey (she's a huge fan of monkeys, though it is not mentioned in Do I Want Friendship or Do I Want Your Love) that had velvet stuff on his hands so she could put him around her neck.

"Can we go on that?" I asked, pointing at the big wheel going in slow circles. Ann paled; she was afraid of heights.

"Why don't you go with your father?" she suggested.

"Can we daddy?" I questioned, looking at him.

"Sure." I followed after my father and then got in after him once we were allowed on. At first, the ride went pleasant; as the ride rose up, I pointed things out to my father and he nodded and commented as well. Suddenly, there was a creaking just as our spot got up to the top and then there were screams below. "Nightana! Get back!" I had started falling forward, unaware of what was happening, and when my father grabbed me and put me back in place, he fell out, but managed to catch himself on the rail.

"Daddy!"

"Nightana, stay in your seat!" he grunted, trying to pull himself up.

"You're going to fall!" I leaned over the edge to help him and felt myself fall forward again when something grabbed hold of me. I turned my red vision to where I felt the thing and saw it. "What are you?"

"My name is Vincent." As he said that, I heard a scream.

"Daddy!" I cried and tried to pull free of the creature, but he wouldn't let go. There was a _splat! _and then the Ferris Wheel began it's fall. More people began screaming, but I didn't. I cried and hoped I would die with my father. I was wrong; Vincent took the impact that would have killed me and then he put me under a bunch of broken parts of the big wheel.

"Don't worry, Nightana, someone will find you." And then he disappeared. Someone found me hours later when I was still crying and they pulled me out to a darkened sky. No one tried to take away my necklace or my monkey the entire time I was in the hospital, or in the emergency room. After being there for a couple of days, I was finally released from the hospital to my mother and was taken home.

Two years later that exact same day, I was woken by my mother with a slap. It was my normal morning greetings nowadays. She had treated me like this since I had come home from the hospital after my father had died. At first, it had only been when she got drunk, then she'd be the nice mother again, but now it was whenever she felt like it.

I was sent to the dishes first and then I went to make breakfast for Ann. After that, I was sent to drink some water with her dog. "We're going out today," she said, addressing me. I looked up.

"Where are we going?"

"I still need everyone to believe that you are well," Ann continued, ignoring my question.

"Can we go to the swings?"

"That's fine." She looked at me, her face filled with loathing momentarily, but she changed it. "Go get a shower and then get into some of your nicer clothes."

"All right." I got off the floor.

"Finish the dishes first." I nodded and pulled a stool out in front of the kitchen sink. Once that was done, I put everything away, went to the bathroom, and got in the shower. Ten minutes later, I came back out and got myself dressed in a black skirt and a white tang top, then went back to the bathroom. I got another stool, brushed out my hair, blow dried my hair, and then brushed it one more time. I pulled my hair back into two high pigtails, brushing my bangs out before I went downstairs to see if I was presentable.

"Mommy, should I wear my jacket?" I asked her.

"No, it's warm enough outside. You don't need it."

"Okay." I pulled on some nice, black dress shoes and then walked over to where Ann was.

"Are you ready?" she asked, I nodded, and she smiled. "Good, come on let's go." I hesitated to take her hand and then followed her out of the house.

Knowing what the consequences would be later, I spoke out. "Mommy, I'm hungry. Can we get something to eat?" She glared down at me before smiling and nodding as people went by.

"Sure, darling." We went to a grocery store and I followed behind her as she picked things out. I was very happy and excited when she let me pick out a type of cookies. Afterwards, we went to the park and I got to eat after so long. It was the most I had eaten in about two years. Mother threw away all the garbage and told me to run off and play. I happily did so, and got on the swings.

As the swing got higher, I began giggling and then turned to my red vision to Ann to speak to her. I hesitated and then saw the hatred pass through her face. My happy face died instantly, and I stopped my swing to look at the ground sadly. Hearing movement, I looked up to see the three people looking at me from the sidewalk. "Is something the matter?" mother asked, getting up from her seat. "Ni-"

"Their names are Lawliet Ryuzaki and Beyond Birthday," I stated, looking at the names above the two boys' heads. "And the old guy is-"

"That's enough of your problems," she growled, yanking me off the swing so fast that I fell "Get up!" The swing hit me in the back of my head as she pulled me up. I pulled my arm out of her hand, backing away from her and as she advanced towards me, I glanced around fearfully when I noticed the three were still watching. I looked one last time at my mother and then took off running.

"Ryuzaki!" the old man called out, but I hadn't heard him nor had I heard the footsteps coming after me. I fell behind a dumpster, sobbing.

"Are you all right?" I looked up at the voice and saw Lawliet in front of me.

"No, not really," I whispered, wrapping my arms around my legs and I started shaking.

"I'm L."

"No, you're Lawliet Ryuzaki." He blinked obviously confused.

"But please call me L. No one else can know my name."

"Well, I'm Nightana and I promise I won't tell anyone." We were silent for a few moments and I had to look away from his sharp gaze.

"Do you want to come with me so we can talk to Watari and he can take you to the Wammy House?"

"Is that okay?"

"Of course. Come on." He held out a gloved hand. I took his hand and began following him when I stumbled and fell to the ground as everything began spinning. "What's wrong?" I watched as a blurry figure of L kneeled beside me.

"I can't see straight. Everything's so blurry," I mumbled.

"Here, get on my back."

"I'll try." I managed to get on his back, though I had fallen against him. He began walking and I found he could walk quite easily with me on his back.

"Nightana," I heard my mother breah as L got me to the others. L stepped back as she walked forward to collect me. "Child, I need my daughter back."

"You're not taking her," he argued.

"What did you say?" Ann growled.

"Ryuzaki," Watari warned, "she is not one of ours-"

"That woman abuses her. I'm not going to send her back to that place."

"Nightana! I told you not to tell anyone such lies-!" Ann began, but Watari cut her off.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Anderson, but she'll be coming with us. We will inform you when the Custody hearing will happen. Good day." With that, Watari turned to L and I. "Let's go." L nodded nad we began following him and Beyond Birthday. Already, I could feel mother's satisfied smirk burning into my back.

**~Author's Note~**

**I hope this is a good beginning. It took quite a few hours of writing out, then typing back up to get all of this. I was thinking about doing it Third Person Point of View, but in the end, I just did this.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX**


	2. Wammy's House

**The Beginning**

**Chapter Two: The Wammy House**

"Ryuzaki," Watari said, addressing L, "will you take Nightana to our nurse while I go talk to Roger?"

"That's fine, Watari," L responded, then spoke to me. "Nightana, can you walk?" Nothing was blurry now.

"I might be able to." I set my feet on the ground and took a few steps forward. I was still dizzy, but ti was better. L walked beside me with a hand on my lower back to keep me steady as he led me down a hall. I walked into a brightly painted room after L. There were two women in the room; there was one in a white gown with her blonde hair tucked into a bun. The other woman wore normal, baggy jeans with a dressy shirt on. She had long, brown hair that reached to the middle of her back and when she turned around a little, I saw she had soft green eyes.

We walked in just as the blonde said, "Thank you, Ms. Twilight, for the stuff. I hope you enjoy your day off."

"Thank you, Sara. Have a nice day." The brown haired one, supposedly called Ms. Twilight, turned around. "Ah, Ryuzaki, you're back and I see you brought a friend home. Who is she?"

"This is Nightana," he answered, "And she needs her head checked out."

"I'll do that," Sara said, coming over to me. I let her take my arm. She gently lead me to a bed and sat me down upon it. "Darling, what happened to your head? There's blood caked to the back of your head."

"Do I?" I touched the back of my head and winced.

"I'll clean it and see how it is." I nodded and she began cleaning the blood away. After a moment, she said, "it's not too bad. It calls for just a couple of stitches." She left for a moment and then came back. "This may hurt a bit." I didn't flinched once during the process.

Sara smiled at me. "Thank you," I told her.

"It's my pleasure. I need you to walk around and tell me if you feel dizzy at all." I nodded and did what she asked.

"I'm not dizzy anymore!" I informed.

"Good. If your dizziness does come back, you need to tell me right away, okay?"

"Okay!" I turned around as footsteps entered the room.

"Hello, Watari, Roger, what can I do for you?"

"I came to see her," the old man named roger answer, referring to me.

"You can talk to her over here. I need to wrap her head." I walked back over to Sara and smiled politely at the other two.

"Nightana, right?"

"Yes," I said, just as politely.

"I heard what happened. Is your head all right?"

"She had to get four stitches and she was dizzy earlier," the nurse replied for me as she washed some things down now that she was done wrapping my head.

"My head's fine," I added.

"You don't want to go back to your mother, do you?" I shook my head.

"Mommy would try to kill me if I went back."

"We shall call a Custody Hearing to win your custody and then we'd adopt you out."

"Oh, would you?" He nodded. "Thank you so much!" I hugged him and then stepped back again, blushing.

"Ryuzaki," Watari said, turning his attention to the silent little boy in the room. "Would you mind if Nightana stays in your room?"

"Not at all," he said back, looking at me. "I'll show you to our room, Nightana." I nodded and followed him out of the room.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay with you," I began, "do you mind, since everyone seems to call your Ryuzaki or L, can I call you Ryu-kun?"

"No, I don't mind. It's quite nice, actually. Everyone else just calls me L or something."

"Why not Lawliet?"

"No one here is supposed to know my real name. We call each other either by a letter or a name each person makes up."

"Really?"

"Yes, you'll probably have to do it too." I made a face.

"What if I want to keep my name?"

"You'll have to talk to Roger."

"I will... if he tells me I have to." L unlocked a door and went in, me following after him. It was a brightly colored room that filled you with warmth. There was old fashioned light fixtures and a few candles lit in the room. I saw a desk filled with books, papers, and a bunch of notebooks to the right side of the room. There was an archway half way through the room and behind that archway were two beds lining opposite walls with wardrobes at the end of each one. The bed had bright red and gold bedding and pillows. A window was at the end of the room, showing a bright lake.

"This will be your bed," L told me, and I nodded, scanning over the bed before turning around to observe the rest of the room. As I walked back through the archway, I noticed the bookshelf and instantly went to look at it. "Do you like to read?"

"Yes, I love to," I said, grabbing a novel and sifting through its pages.

"Why don't you go read while I do my schoolwork?" he suggested and I nodded. Slowly I walked over to the bed as I began reading and fell into the pillows. I glanced up after a while to L and found him deep in thought, his knees hugged to his thin chest. I looked back down at my book; he was trying to distance himself away fro me now... but I wouldn't let him. I would make sure of it.

Three Hours Later

"L, it seems like you have a new roommate." I looked up from my book and saw Ms. Twilight standing in the doorway of the room.

"Nightana, this is my nanny Ms. Twilight," he introduced and I nodded.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I said, setting the book down after putting a bookmark in my page. Ms. Twilight nodded with a smile.

"How well do you read?"

"Well, let's see..." I glanced at the clock on the wall. "I've had to have been reading for three hours now nonstop and I'm on page 263 right now."

"Really? And you understand everything?" I nodded. "And you're only four," she murmured. "That's amazing!"

"Daddy had been proud of me since he said I was so smart. At least that's what he said."

"Had been?"

"Daddy died two years ago. I managed to survive when the Ferris Wheel collapsed, but daddy fell. Mommy blamed me for it."

"It wasn't your fault."

I shrugged. "Mommy thought it was. Mommy's always right." To my surprised, Ms. Twilight sat down on the bed beside me and pulled me into a hug.

"I won't let you go back to that woman," she whispered. I hugged her, feeling like this had been like my life before everything had gone downhill. "We'll beat her together, won't me?"

"We?" She nodded.

"Yes, I'm going to be your lawyer and guardian when we win. At least, I will be your guardian until we find you a new home."

"Okay! When's the court thing?"

"We're going to tell your mother it's three days from now"

"It's already that early?"  
"Roger can schedule these things quickly."

"I see."

"Tomorrow I also got permission to take you shopping for some clothes and a few things you'd like."  
"Oh, thank you, but you don't need to..."

"We really want you to feel welcome."

"This is so much though. You dont't need to." Ms. Twlight smiled and held out her hand as she stood up.

"Nightana, come, I'll show you around Wammy's House."

"Don't you have the day off?"

"I do, but I'd rather show you around than have my day off. I love my job so I don't like taking off any days."

"Okay." I turned to L. "Ryu-kun, do you want to come with?"  
"I'm busy right now so I can't."

"That's fine." My eyes narrowed suspiciously, trying to read his next move. Instead of demanding him to stop, I turned to Ms. Twilight and smiled. "Come on, let's go!"

"Alright," she smiled and I took her hand, following eagerly and swinging our arms as we walked.

"Ms. Twilight, why is Ryu-kun trying to distance himself?" I asked, looking up at her. She smiled.

"So you've noticed already? Well, basically he doesn't like getting close to anyone except Watari and he'll talk to me more than most, but we're not all that close. That's just how he is."

"Well, I won't let that happen! I'll be his friend, I promis-"

"HEY WATCH IT!" I flinched as soon as I ran into someone and I turned around, looking at the boy in front of me. He was slightly taller than me with golden blonde hair that reached just past his ears and cold ocean blue eyes glared at me.

"Sorry-" I paused to glance at his name. "Mihael?"

"My name's Mello," he hissed, causing me to remember what L had warned.

"Sorry. I'm Nightana."

"Yeah," he muttered and bit into a chocolate bar.

"Could I have a piece?" I took the bar before he answered and broke a piece off he hadn't eaten. "Thanks."

"You shouldn't tell people your real name," the Mello character continued, frowning at his chocolate bar. "We're not supposed to tell others our names."

"Yeah, well I'm not changing my name and I'm not using a fake name," I shot back.

"Oh, Nightana, I bet your hungry," Ms. Twilight interrupted us. I shook my head.

"No, mommy fed me today since it was the weekend and because I turned four today!"

"Well, you should get a snack still." She looked back and Mello and then frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be in class today?"

"I'm starting Monday."

"Go do something instead of stealing chocolate. Come on, Nightana." She took my hand and we continued on. "Okay, so what kind of fruit do you like?"

"I've never hand any fruits before. What are they like?" I questioned as she took me into the kitchen.

"Here, have this. This is an orange." I took the orange an bit into it. The bitter, vile taste entered my mouth and I instantly let go of the fruit and let it land on the table.

"I don't like that one," I said with a frown.

"Nightana, you have to peel it. Here." She picked up the fruit and showed me how to. I tried it again once the peel was off and loved it instantly. She continued having me try different fruits and some other foods before we left. I jumped slightly as I heard the bell ring and looked at the other students who gave me odd looks as they passed. "There were some classes for other students today. L got today off," she informed as she noticed my expression.

"Did Ryu-kun have classes today?"  
"No, he had a day off."

"Oh... do I get to go to class?"

"You're still too young, but if you're smart enough I think you could." I frowned at this.

"That's not nice. If kids my age want to go to class, they should be able to."

I didn't see her small smile. "Let's go talk to Roger about your name."

"But I want to keep my name!"

"That's what we're going to go talk to him about."

"Oh... okay!" We began our walk upstairs to the third story. There was only a couple of doors up there, but Ms. Twilight stopped outside the biggest one.

"This is Roger's room. You only come here if your summoned or your with a teacher," she warned sternly. I nodded. She knocked on the door and after she heard Roger's reply, she went in with me behind her.

"Ms. Twilight, Nightana, what can I do for you?" he asked, setting his pencil down.

"What are we going to do about Nightana's name? Is she going to be given a fake name or shall she be called by her first name?"

"Nightana," he said, causing me to look at him seriously, "Would you mind calling yourself just Night?"

"I dont' want to get rid of my name my father gave me! Wouldn't it seem like Nightana is my fake name?" He looked at me.

"We'll put Night in your file here. Is that alright? You would be called Night by the family who adopts you." I sighed.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"No, not really," he smiled.

"I guess that's fine, but can some call me Nightana as a nickname?"

"That's fine," he agreed. Then Ms. Twilight took me downstairs again, showed me around the rest of the Wammy House, and then I went to bed, avoiding dinner.

**~Author's Note~**

**Thanks so much to strawberrikiwies and RikuLayke for reviewing!**

**The Return, sequel to Do I want Friendship or Do I Want Your Love? is out to those who have read my L Love Story. You can read that story without having to read this one if you're just beginning to get in on my L stories. Thanks again!**

**XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX/Ellai Larsen**


	3. Court

**Chapter Three: Court**

As I slowly blinked my eyes open, I saw the bedroom door open. I realized then that I was laying on the ground. Ms. Twilight smiled as she popped her head in. Apparently, nothing had been a dream yesterday. "Well, good morning Nightana," she greeted, a smile gracing her young face. "Do you usually sleep this way?" I smiled and shook my head, sitting up.

"No, but I do roll around quite a bit in my sleep." I looked around and realized someone was missing. "Where's Ryu-kun?"

"You mean L? He's taking his Sunday Lessons. Yesterday was his day off." I nodded and picked up my blankets and pillows, making my bed. "Are you ready to go shopping today?"

"Shopping... I've never actually done it. It sounds like fun though!"

"We'll have lots of fun. I can promise you that. You can go get a shower and I'll find you some new clothes that fit. I don't like you want to go running around in L's shirt all day." A smile worked its way on Ms. Twilight's face. "Oh, do you remember where the showers are?"  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do. I'll find out."

"Do you know where the towels are?" I nodded. "Okay, then come back here when you're done."

"Okay!" I left the room and traveled down numerous halls before I finally arrived to the room labeled 'Girl's Locker and Bathrooms'. I got ready quickly, not wanting Ms. Twilight wait on me. After I finished the shower, I walked out to see a pile of clothes set on the counter, with a note from Ms. Twilight.

_Here should be a set of clothes that fit you. I'll be back in five minutes._

_-Ms. Twilight's_

I set the note down and dried myself off before pulling on the clothes. They fit nicely. There was a nice, soft red long sleeved shirt and pale blue jeans. A knock came to the bathroom door as I began brushing out my hair. "Ms. Twilight?" I asked.

"Yes. Can I come in?"

"Of course." She walked in with a smile.

"Those clothes look wonderful on you, Nightana. It's going to be quite cold today so I'd wear your hair down too."

"Mommy always made me wear my hair up. She said it was a nuisance to wear it down and let it get all tangled. I'll try it if you want me to though." I grabbed the blow drier and after ten minutes, got my hair nice and dry.

Ms. Twilight smiled, hugging my shoulders. "You're quite beautiful, Nightana. You're hair color is very unusual though. Did your mother color it?"

I shook my head. "Daddy's hair color was like this. My said it would follow my children too if I lasted that long."

"You're going to, Nightana. I promise," Ms. Twilight said, smiling. "Are you hungry?"

"A little, but mommy never feeds me on Sundays."

"Well, you will be now. Come on." Ms. Twilight took my hand and lead me downstairs. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"It doesn't matter. Something sweet though sounds good."

"Okay, how about some French Toast? I'm sure you'll like it. What fruit would you like?"

"Grapes," I decided after a moment.

"Okay. I'll be right back. Get settled at the table." I got a seat pulled out and sat down in it, observing everything. The table was quite long with probably sixty seats. There were smaller tables around the room also for younger children. I smiled slightly just as Ms. Twilight came back in.

"How many people are here at the Wammy's House?" I asked as she sat a plate in front of me.

"About fifty older kids and only a few younger kids. We always get new people here. Usually none in as bad of shape as you were though. Try the French Toast." I slowly stared at it, unsure how.

"How do I? It's not in a bowl." Ms. Twilight muttered something under her breath and picked up a fork with a smile.

"Here, you cut the French Toast with this or a butterknife, then pick it up and put it in your mouth. And don't poke it either. It's very sticky." I pulled my hand back and nodded. Then I did as she said.

I ate my food quite fast after I figured it out and happily got out of my chair, dishes in hand with a clean plate. "Aren't you going to eat more?" Ms. Twilight asked me.

"That was a lot of food though," I said with a frown.

"That was just one sitting. How many meals do you have when your mother feeds you?"

"One plate every week and snacks when we were out and I said I was hungry."

"Well, here you'll have three meals a day seven days a week." I simply stared at her in shock. "Oh, come on, let's leave. We have a lot to do today."

"Okay!" I took her hand, following eagerly to the front of the house.

"Here, you're going to use these shoes right here. They are the same size as the shoes you showed up in."

"Thank you." I pulled them on, happy with the comfort of the shoes and let Ms. Twilight put a fall jacket on me. With that, she took my hand and lead me down the road to town. For a while, we went to clothes shops, where I picked out some clothes and so did Ms. Twilight, all of which I liked.

It was around noon, we were walking down the sidewalk when we heard a cough. I froze in my spot and Ms. Twilight turned around. "Ladies," my mother said, "this is the lady who took my daughter. They've suggested that I've abused her."

"That's ridiculous," one of mother's friends argued with a frown at both of us. I hid behind Ms. Twilight, looking at the ground so I couldn't see mother's face.

"Well, Ms. Anderson, until after the court , that is what I will hold you to," Ms. Twilight said stiffly, backing away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to take Nightana to lunch." With that, Ms. Twilight stalked off, holding my hand as we went.

The next day, I got dressed in a presentable outfit for court and Ms. Twilight took me to the Court House.

**~Author's Note~**

**Okay, I did not edit because I'm secretly doing this and my parents could walk in at any time so yeah. I will only begin updating Fridays! I'm going to be super busy now that my book will be getting published for real! Yays! I'll be an author soon enough.**

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are great! Reviews with ideas or comments are even better!**

**XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX/Ellai Larsen**


	4. Recap

**The Beginning**

**Chapter Four: Recap**

That morning had been different than the others. I didn't go to sleep that night, something that just naturally happened. When L had been getting ready that morning, I got up with him, greeting him warmly, though he seemed like he was still trying to distance himself even as he greeted me back. I tried to ignore it though and promised I'd work on getting L to stop that when I finally got to stay at the Wammy's House.

It was the first day I actually met everyone. When I walked down, there was a girl and boy talking. It was B and a girl named... Aia. She turned around first and smiled as she turned around. "You must be the new girl B was talking about," she said softly, clearly a shy person. "I'm A." A had long charcoal black hair pulled into ponytail with glasses and she chewed on her bottom lip when she was nervous.

"Night."

"Great to meet you! You can call me Aia, if you want..."

"You aren't supposed to tell others your name, A, you should know this. You've been here longer than me," B said with a frown, before looking over at me again.

Aia looked at the ground. "I'm actually Nightana. I was told to tell others just Night, but you can call me Nightana." Aia smiled at me.

"I think we're going to get along, Nightana." With that, she took my hand and lead me to the kitchen, talking as we went. There were about fifty kids of different ages. "I can show you around later, if you need to. These are some of our other students, but we have mostly real young children here because people keep dropping them off on the doorsteps. Besides, this is the peak when people are coming to see how smart they are. I think we've had over twenty new people just last week come in to look around and be tested to see how smart they are."

"I think you can sit right here," Aia announced, showing me a chair right across from L. He gave me a brief glance and something that could be considered a small smile, but otherwise he just went on eating. I frowned at this, but settled down in my seat beside Aia, who was quite happy to be able to talk to someone.

And she was quite nice, eagerly talking about things she was learning about. A few girls were whispering over in the corner and I tried to ignore it, but it was obvious they were talking about me. It was quite annoying really. They giggled and gave me smug looks that said 'we're much better than you' but I ignored it still, talking with Aia through breakfast. "Nightana, it's time to go." I looked over my shoulder and smiled at Ms. Twilight. She wore a nice suit that suited her nicely. Obviously, Ms. Twilight was prepared to do anything to keep me at Wammy's House.

Watari was driving us to court. I nervously chewed the inside of my cheek and tugged at some of my hair, twirling it around on my finger. My outfit was nice, a simple long sleeved bluish shirt with some Japanese writing on it (her favorite!) and loose fitting jeans. Aia said she'd come find me when I arrived home, assuming Ms. Twilight and Watari got to keep custody of me, but I never mentioned this.

The judge was a nice man, smiling as I walked in just as nervous as anyone could be. It would almost seem like I've committed a murder, I was so scared. My mother smiled as soon as she saw me. "Nightana," she greeted, going over to hug me, but I quickly ran and hid behind Ms. Twilight. Her eyes narrowed, but her face showed hurt. It didn't matter though because Ms. Twilight pulled me over and sat me down at a table.

"Here, take this," Ms. Twilight said softly, handing me a cookie. I began nibbling on it, just as the court was called into order. Many of my mother's friends were there as well, and many looked actually shocked at what was going on.

Both mother and I made the vow to not lie, as did Ms. Twilight and then the court began. Mother was asked whether or not she was guilty. Of course she denied guilty and went innocent as before. She explained what had happened and everything. I wanted to speak out and say it was all a lie, but I kept my tongue tied. My turn would come up at some point.

Ms. Twilight spoke first, explaining what I had explained to her. "Now, Ms. Anderson," the judge said, turning to my mother. "Was it true that you indeed get drunk and hurt your child on quite a few accounts. Mother sighed.

She looked like she was deeply hurt. "Yes, in the beginning, I did in fact get drunk, but I was so devastated about Erik's loss. It hurt so much and I wanted to get the pain away. I never knew that I would hit my daughter and I quickly quit doing that the moment I realized it."

"That's a lie!" I blurted out faster than I thought possible and quickly covered my mouth, tears pricking my eyes and I looked away.

The judge looked at me. "What did she lie about?" he asked calmly, ignoring the fact I spoke without being addressed.

"She quit getting drunk, yes, but she never quit hitting me," I said softly, rubbing my eyes. "I have a few scars to prove it, but most of my injuries you'd never be able to see. Mother made sure she didn't leave a single mark." The judge thought about this, then glanced over at Mother's direction. Her face was rigid, and she actually seemed mad. I smiled softly at this thought, then it sobered.

"Ms. Anderson, this is true, isn't it?"

"No, of course not."

"Would you be willing to take a lie detector test?"

"Yes. And I would swear on the bible." I stared at her in horror and buried my face in Ms. Twilight's arm. She hugged me and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry. We'll win."

For quite a while, this continued, and even a break had to be called. Things were going crazy and Ms. Twilight and Watari talked in hushed whispers for quite a while. Finally, by the end of the day, a decision was made. "Ms. Twilight, Watari," the judge said, "I know what your orphanage is for..."

"For the gifted, yes," Ms. Twilight answered.

"What do you plan with Nightana there?"

"Well, I plan to be her legal guardian and we'll adopt her out to a family. We'll also test her to see how smart she is. She seems very smart. She might very well..."

"I don't that's a good idea, though. Wouldn't it be better to just adopt her out?"

"But if she's smart enough to surpass Him, then she needs to stay! We already have two possible candidates, but that's it. The others aren't good enough."  
"What are you planning on doing with my daughter?" Mother exclaimed, now actually looking worried.

"She will no longer be your child, Ms. Anderson," the Judge said, "Ms. Nightana Anderson shall now be adopted to Ms. Twilight." With that, the judge hit his hammer.

#

#

It was dinner when we arrived back at the Orphanage. Ms. Twilight was grinning and promised me a special meal tomorrow night for dinner, but we'd have to test a few things like she said before in court. The others had eaten, except Aia, who was waiting for me. I grinned at her. "I'll be staying, A!" I giggled, and hugged Aia when she held out her arms.

"Great! Then we can most certainly be friends. I waited until Ms. Twilight returned to eat anything. I would have been so sad if you hadn't been able to stay."

"Thanks, Aia," I murmured and got in my same seat from before once I'd picked up the food I wanted. I was quite hungry and ate it all up within ten minutes. I began yawning a lot and Ms. Twilight quickly shooed me upstairs to bed, her following me the whole time. L looked up the instant his door was open and I sleepily noticed a smile form on his face.

Ms. Twilight lay me down in my bed as soon as I got into L's shirt, tucking me in. I already nuzzled down into the blankets and pillow and smiled sleepily at her as she kissed me on the forehead, bidding me a soft goodnight. L walked over when Ms. Twilight was gone and I looked up at him instantly, but through very hazy eyes. "I'm glad you'll be staying Nightana," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

I managed a tired smile. "You'll be my friend. I'm not going to let you distance yourself from me."

"I don't think I can," he mumbled as he stood up. Before I could make out what L meant, I fell asleep again.

In the morning, when I got up, L was just getting out of his chair to get ready for the day. I quickly got up with him just as Ms. Twilight walked in. "Well, good morning to you, Nightana," Ms. Twilight grinned. "Do you want to come with me while I wake up Mello?"

"Oh, sure. But what's the bucket for?" I studied it as I walked over to her. Many ice cubes floated in the top.

"Well, I was just assigned Mello and his old nanny told me how to wake him up. You'll see in a moment." He was right across the hall. As we went into his room, I could hardly make my way through the mess. "He'll be cleaning this up for sure," Ms. Twilight muttered before finally arriving at his bed. There was an empty bed that had been used to store Chocolate candy bar wrappers on the other side. His bedroom was obviously designed by someone else. "Mello," Ms. Twilight announced loudly, "It's time to get up." I winced at her voice, but Mello didn't even stir. With a sigh, Ms. Twilight lifted the bucket and dumped the whole thing on Mello. I was splashed slightly and winced at the cold water that hit me.

Mello woke with a shout and glared at Ms. Twilight from under his wet hair. "What was that for?" he growled, standing up.

"Well, you didn't wake up. Now where's that other boy who's supposed to be here? I was told he arrived yesterday."

"He's not here yet. Delay or something. I wasn't paying attention." Mello finally noticed me. "What are you doing here? I thought you were being taken back to your mother yesterday."

"Nope! I get to stay!" Mello nodded, seeming thoughtful.

"Is that so? Are you going to be taking classes?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"She's being tested today," Ms. Twilight said before taking my hand. "Let's go Nightana. We'll get some breakfast and let Mello get himself ready."

"Okay!" I agreed, then went downstairs. Aia and I began talking eagerly with each other as we ate. Ms. Twilight picked me up at the end of breakfast and together we went up to Rodger's office. I waited patiently as they got a few things organized. "Okay, here you go, Nightana. You can begin." I gazed at the contraption, grinning and walked forward to begin working.

**~Author's Note~**

**I hope you enjoyed this! it took forever to get out of writer's block. I hate writer's block! Anywho... thanks for reading! Review if you even hated this! I need to know!**

**XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX/Ellai Larsen**


	5. Some Tests

**The Beginning**

**Chapter Five: Some Tests**

"Great job, Nightana!" Ms. Twilight congratulated, smiling broadly as I walked away from what I'd been working on. Roger nodded his approval, scanning the thing over.

"Did I do good?" I wondered aloud. Ms. Twilight grinned.

"Of course you did!" she exclaimed, hugging me. I grinned sheepishly.

"Okay, that's good," I breathed, happy.

"Why don't we take a break and go outside for a while?"

"Okay!" I agreed enthusiastically, running out of the room, Ms. Twilight sharing a knowing look with Roger.

"We'll discuss it," he said simply before Ms. Twilight had to catch up with me. When I got my shoes pulled on, Ms. Twilight told me she'd introduce me to some of the animals around Wammy's House. I agreed with this easily and ran outside. There were a few students outside, either doing P.E. or just messing around during one of their free periods. But I didn't pay attention to this and followed Ms. Twilight to the barn she was taking me to. My eyes widened and I laughed, turning to Ms. Twilight.

"I love horses!" I exclaimed, running over to the first stall.

"Maybe we could go for a ride. If you can that is. I'd have to talk to Roger first." Ms. Twilight smiled as I went to each horse stall, but she tried to stop me from going to the last stall.

"Who's here?" I questioned.

"He's a pretty wild horse. He doesn't like most people," she said, looking concerned.

"That's only because you treat him like that! Let me go talk to him." I walked over to the stall. The horse looked up at me, then continued chewing on the straw in his stall. "Hello, what's your name?" I wondered.

"We call him Twix," Ms. Twilight murmured, watching us closely. I nodded.

"Hello, Twix. I'm Nightana, though I'm told to tell everyone I'm Night." He looked back at me again and then came and nudged my hand. I giggled and began rubbing his nose. "I have no idea why everyone says your wild. You're a sweety." I looked at Ms. Twilight. "Can I please ride him? I've read about riding on horses before."

"But it's different than really doing it, honey," she said before sighing. I gave her my best puppy dog look, easily winning her over. "Okay, fine, but only for a few moments. I'll help you get him saddled up." I cheered and let her help with everything, though I did most of the brushing and combing.

He was finally ready, standing there and waiting for me to get on. Grinning, I easily got onto Twix's saddle and clicked my tongue like I'd read. "Twix, let's go for a little walk outside," I suggested. He moved without question, to Ms. Twilight's surprise. Some students, who were out in the field taking care of some other animals, stared in shock as I continued to ride Twix. I smiled, and began running Twix.

For nearly two hours, Ms. Twilight let me ride before she finally told me it was time to go. I sighed the whole time and promised Twix I'd be back tomorrow to work with him.

More tests were done and during lunch, I began talking with Aia some more. "I hate all the work I get," she grumbled, the pile of books by her chair nearly as tall as me. I could only stare at it.

"That's a lot," I said, amazed.

"I know what you mean." I got into my chair and began eating as well. "How are your tests doing?"

I grinned. "They're a lot of fun! I can't believe how easy they are." Aia nodded, but her face looked serious so I had no idea what was going through her mind.

"Is everything all right?"

Aia's face instantly changed. "Of course! Make sure to eat all your food. You'll need the brain food."

"Do you need help carrying your books back to your room?"

"Sure! Thanks for the offer." Then all we did was talk and eat until we were told there were ten minutes left. We disappeared over to her room to drop off the books and then we went our separate ways.

Ms. Twilight announced I was free to do what I wanted for an hour before we'd begin. So I headed back to my room, to find L there. "Hey, Ryu-kun!" L nodded over in my direction, but he hardly glanced up from his book.

"Do you need something, Nightana?"

"Can you take me to a library? I finished all the books on the shelf the other day." L glanced over at the shelf.

"There aren't many you'd be interested in," he admitted.

"So can you? I have a free hour."

"Sure, I could. I need to get a new book anyways." L got out of his odd position and walked towards the door. I quickly followed, hesitantly taking his hand. L simply smiled and we continued walking.

"Normally, this library is off limits to people your age, but since you'll be with me it should be all right," L commented as we started going down the stairs.

I cocked my head to the side. "Is it more difficult to read?"

"The librarian doesn't usually like younger kids there. She's much more protective of her books than most Librarians."

"Okay, but I promise I'll take care of the books. I like books."

"I'm sure you will."

I smiled happily, beginning to swing our arms. L didn't seem to mind.

For nearly ten minutes, we walked in silence, but luckily it was one that wasn't too awkward. "Here we are," L announced.

I stood there, staring in shock at the size of the library.

**~Author's Note~**

**Well, I hate to say this chapter was horrid, but it was. I have such bad writer's block for this story that I can't possibly think of what to do and I hated ending it there so horribly! Oh, well, hopefully I'll be more into it later.**

**Reviews would help with that ^^**

**XxXMorganXxXLEAHXxX**


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